Jet Li: From Shaolin Temple to Hollywood to Alibaba

After appearing in a series of Hollywood movies, Chinese film star Jet Li is adding a new role to his resume: a board director at a film and TV production business that will soon become a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding.

Li’s nomination to the film company’s board is part of Alibaba’s plans to expand into China’s growing movie industry through its acquisition of ChinaVision Media Group.

Alibaba, which is preparing to go public in New York in what could be one of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history, said in March that it would buy a 60% stake in Hong Kong-listed ChinaVision for about $804 million.

In its recent filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, ChinaVision said that it would change its name to Alibaba Pictures Group once its shareholders approve the acquisition at a meeting in June. The company also said that Li, whose Hollywood film career has included such titles as Lethal Weapon 4 and Romeo Must Die, would join its board as an independent director.

Other than more publicity Li could help generate, it still isn’t clear what specific roles he might play as a director. Li, whose Chinese name is Li Lianjie, has appeared in Hong Kong martial arts films that became well-known internationally, such as Shaolin Temple and Once Upon a Time in China, before moving on to Hollywood in the late 1990s.

Apart from Li, three Alibaba executives will also join the board of Alibaba Pictures, according to the filing. ChinaVision said that Alibaba’s ability to analyze mountains of information collected from hundreds of millions of users would be useful when the movie production business tries to develop more customized films and TV shows tailored for certain audiences. Access to Alibaba’s vast Internet customer base would also provide new films and TV shows with broader marketing and distribution channels, ChinaVision said.

Since the beginning of this year, Alibaba has been trying to expand into entertainment and digital-media industries through acquisitions and newly developed services such as mobile games, as part of its attempt to make its e-commerce and other platforms more attractive.

After announcing the ChinaVision deal, Alibaba in April registered a company in Hong Kong under the name Alibaba Films Group. Later in the month, it changed the name to Alibaba Pictures Group.